Horst Antes was born in Heppenheim an der Bergstrasse on October 28, 1936. From 1957 to 1959 he studied at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Karlsruhe under HAP Grieshaber. At the age of twenty-three, the young artist was awarded the Art Prize of the City of Hanover (Pankofer Prize, Baden Baden). In 1960 he received a scholarship from the Kulturkreis im Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie, Cologne, and created his first portrait of a head in profile, Kopf mit roter Kappe (Head with a Red Cap). In 1961, the year in which he married Dorothée Großmann, Antes was awarded the Junger Westen Art Prize and the Prix des Artistes at the II Biennale des jeunes artistes in Paris. He then lived and worked in Florence for a year with a fellowship from the Villa Romana. He subsequently spent a year in Rome at the Villa Massimo. From 1965 to 1968 Horst Antes taught at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Karlsruhe (in 1967–1968 as a visiting professor). In 1966 he participated in the XXXIII Venice Biennale for the second time and received the Unesco Prize for Painting as well as a second grant from the Aldegrever Society in Münster. Horst Antes’ interest in indigenous peoples led him to visit various Native American reservations in the USA for the first time in 1972. The Falklands War in 1982 deeply shocked the artist and caused a shift in his subjects: the “head figures” disappeared from his oeuvre and he began painting images of houses instead.
Horst Antes in Karlsruhe and Berlin
In 1984, he became a professor at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Karlsruhe, where he taught until 2000. In 1985, he moved into a studio in Berlin. He was awarded the Hans Molfenter Prize of the City of Stuttgart in 1989, and in 1991 he received both the Grand Prize of the XXI São Paulo Biennial and the Hessian Cultural Prize. The first major retrospective of his work was held in 1993 at the Haus der Kunst Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen in Munich and at the Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal (1994). In 1996, he founded the Studienstiftung Horst Antes (Horst Antes Scholarship Foundation), which is committed to the preservation of various study collections and the promotion of non-academic art. A touring exhibition titled Horst Antes and Kachinas traveled across Japan in 2004/2005, stopping at the Takamatsu City Museum of Art, the Itami City Museum of Art, the Iwate Museum, the Iwaki City Art Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura/Hayama. In 2006, Kunsthalle Würth held a solo exhibition under the title Und morgen male ich vielleicht ein Bild (And Tomorrow I May Paint a Picture). There was an extensive presentation of his work at the Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin in 2013. Horst Antes was invited to participate in documenta three times (1964, 1968 and 1977) and his works can be found in many public collections. He lives and works in Sicellino.
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1957/1959 – Studied at the State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe under HAP Grieshaber.
1959 – Prize of the Hanoverian Economy. Pankofer Prize, Baden Baden.
1960 – Scholarship from the Kulturkreis im Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie, Cologne. First head painting in profile “Head with red cap”.
1961 – Art Prize “Young West”. “Prix des artistes” at the II Biennale des “jeunes artistes”, Paris. Marriage to Dorothée Großmann.
1962 – Scholarship from the Villa Romana, Florence.
1963 – Scholarship from the Villa Massimo, Rome.
1965/1967 – Teaching position at the State Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe
1966 – UNESCO Prize for Painting. Second participation in the XXXIII Biennale, Venice. Scholarship of the Aldegrever Society, Münster.
1967/68 – Visiting professor at the Staatliche Hochschule der Bildenden Künste, Karlsruhe.
1972 – First trips to various Indian reservations in the USA.
1982 – Under the personal shock of the Falklands War, the subject changes. The “head fish” gives way to pictures of houses.
1984/2000 – Professorship at the State Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe.
1985 – Studio in Berlin.
1989 – Hans Molfenter Prize of the City of Stuttgart.
1991 – Grand Prize of the XXI Sao Paulo Biennial. Cultural Prize of the State of Hesse.
1993 – Major Retrospective at the Haus der Kunst Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich and von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal (1994).
1996 – Establishment of the “Horst Antes Study Foundation” for the preservation of the various study collections and the promotion of non-academic art
2004/05 – Exhibitions in Japan: “Horst Antes and Kachinas” Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Itami City Museum of Art, Iwate Museum, Iwaki City Art Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura/Hayama.
